Mindfulness comes from the Buddhist (Zen) tradition. The essential part of
all skills taught in the Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills group are the Core
Mindfulness skills.

• Observe, describe, and participate are the core mindfulness what skills.
They answer the question, "What do I do to practice core mindfulness skills?"
• Non-judgmentally, one-mindfully, and effectively are the how skills and answer
the question, "How do I practice core mindfulness skills?"

Interpersonal Effectiveness:

Interpersonal response patterns taught in Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills
training are very similar to those taught in many assertiveness and
interpersonal problem-solving classes. These include effective strategies for
asking for what the person needs, learning how to say no, and coping with
interpersonal conflict.

People with Borderline Personality Disorder frequently possess good
interpersonal skills in a general sense. The problems arise, however, in the
application of these skills to specific situations. A person may be able to
describe effective behavioral sequences when discussing another person
encountering a problematic situation, but may be completely incapable of
generating or carrying out similar behavioral sequences when analyzing his/her
own situation.

The Interpersonal Effectiveness module focuses on situations where the
objective is to change something (i.e., requesting someone to do something) or
to resist changes someone else is trying to make (i.e., saying no). The
intention of the skills taught here is to maximize the chances that a person’s
goals in a specific situation will be met, while at the same time not damaging
either the relationship or the person’s self-respect.

Distress Tolerance:

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy emphasizes learning to bear pain skillfully.
Distress Tolerance skills constitute a natural development from Core Mindfulness
skills. They have to do with the ability to accept, non-judgmentally, both
oneself and the current situation. Although the stance advocated here is a
nonjudgmental one, this does not mean that it is one of approval. In other
words, acceptance of reality is not the same thing as approval of reality.

Distress Tolerance behaviors are concerned with the person’s tolerating and
surviving his/her crises and with accepting life as it is in the moment. Four
sets of crisis survival strategies are taught: distracting, self-soothing,
improving the moment, and thinking of pros and cons. Acceptance skills include:
radical acceptance, turning the mind toward acceptance, and willingness vs.
willfulness.

Emotion Regulation:

People who have Borderline Personality Disorder and suicidal people are
emotionally intense, and their emotions change quickly and frequently. They are
often depressed, anxious, angry, and intensely frustrated. This suggests that
these people might benefit from help in learning to regulate their emotions.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Emotion Regulation skills include:

This Week's Borderline Personality Disorder News

The
Cutting Truth of Borderline Personality Disorder
FYI Living
Cutting and other forms of self-mutilation may be hard for many people
to understand. People who self-harm are more likely to have an underlying
emotional problems, such as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
According to a study by German researchers, people with BPD may engage
in self-injury because they get a sense of emotional relief from physical
pain. BPD is a complex set of... Read More